Izzy embraces the filly tightly in her forehooves as all Twinkle can do is stand there in abject shock. “What’s the matter Twinkle? What happened?”
Twinkle can only stammer out, “Um, I fell asleep on the chair and had another nightmare!”
Izzy frowns while continuing to hold the shocked filly in her grasp, “About what?”
Twinkle can only stammer out, “I-I saw me again! Well, sorta? She said that it’s too late to fix anything! She said that I-I already knew things! That um, I just don’t wanna admit it! I swear though, I don’t know what she’s talking about!”
Izzy softly whispers to the foal, “Shh! It’s okay little filly! Izzy’s here now and there’s no more scary things anymore!”
“Um, Izzy?”
“Yes Twinkle?”
“Um,” Twinkle looks down into Izzy’s chest-floof, “is it okay if I sleep with you tonight?”
<*****>
Izzy lays behind the filly underneath the covers in bed and holds her in her hooves while saying, “So, you want me to hold you for comfort?”
“That’s right!” Twinkle exclaims while vibrating slightly in the unicorn’s legs.
“And you also wanted my stuffed octopus to hold for comfort as well?”
“That is also correct, and his name is Fred!” Twinkle says jitterily inside the unicorn’s embrace as she holds the octopus closer to her chest floof.
“Um, right! Fred the octopus! Of course!”
“Indeed!” Twinkle squeaks out highly as she clutches the toy tightly.
Izzy squints while holding the filly as she adds, “And you asked for more pillows! Uh, I gave you four extra, correct?”
“Yup!” Twinkle vibrates out.
Izzy rolls her eyes, “Okay, is there literally anything else I can do to make you comfortable?”
“Well?” Twinkle smiles before making her request, “Could you sing me to sleep please, Miss Izzy?” before lowering her body daintily in the unicorn’s grasp.
Izzy sighs as she smiles dimly and snickers before softly singing a lullaby that Twinkle has never heard before, “Hush now filly, it’s time to go to bed! Hush now foal, it’s time for a nap! Quiet now filly, it’s time to rest your head! Fall now and go collapse!”
Twinkle can’t help but giggle lightly in Izzy’s warm embrace at the silliness of the tune as she smiles and closes her eyes while clutching Fred the octopus and finally, peacefully slumbers…
<*****>
Twinkle awakens on a slab of rock inside a glowing blue cave. She hears her own voice say in the distance, “You can’t hide forever!”
She lifts her head from where she lays on her left side, deep in the cave, and says defiantly, “I’m not afraid of you!”
The voice chuckles, “Golly! Who said I wanted you to be afraid of me? I just want you to remember what you’re supposed to do!”
Twinkle frowns, “And just what am I supposed to do?”
“Easy there, my future empress!” The voice casually replies.
Twinkle starts as her eyes widen when a sudden thought occurs to her mind and she says loudly, “What happened? Why can’t I remember? Did I do something?”
The voice giddily replies, “Oh, golly gee! Finally starting to realize that something isn’t right, huh?”
Twinkle stares forward at the rock wall before asking it with a frown on her freckled face, “Why can’t you come inside here?”
The voice doesn’t reply…
Twinkle is suddenly alone with her thoughts, and she stares forward, further into the cave and the black abyss. She thinks about this other self that she’s met and wonders what she knows. She scrunches her brow when she thinks that maybe something happened? Something caused her to awaken in that courtyard, although she’s still not sure why she was there, or what those other two piles of rubble were? Her eyes widen when she wonders, W-were those two just like me, at one point? Was I uh, stone? And if so, why am I here and they’re dust now? What happened to me that was different? And she abruptly shakes her head when she thinks that such a thing must be impossible! She finally widens her eyes at the dark unknown before her, deeper into the cave before finally deciding to get to her hooves and trot that direction.
She trots into yet another blue stone atrium, although she’s still not exactly sure where the blue light is coming from inside here. She sees a big blue stone wall in front of her before sighing, sitting on her haunches, and whispering to herself, “Guess there’s no more exploring for me, huh?”
When suddenly, she hears a soft feminine voice behind her say, “She’s lying, you know?”
She quickly gets to her hooves and turns to face the voice and she sees a big purple alicorn there, in a white shimmering glow with slightly darker purple eyes, and a distinctive blue mane and tail, each sporting lavender, and orchid streaks of color through them. She asks, “Who are you?”
“I’m here to help you!” The new pony replies.
Twinkle blinks and leans forward slightly with her wings to her sides, “Well um, how are you gonna do that?”
The alicorn smiles, “By telling you that you shouldn’t listen to the other you, you’ve been talking to… She’s not you and never was… You aren’t that filly!”
Twinkle widens her eyes, “You know, it’s really hard to tell, when I don’t know who she is! I don’t even know who I am!” before fluttering and fluffing her wings in irritation. She frowns back at the alicorn, “And just who are you anyway?”
The alicorn leans towards Twinkle with wide eyes, “We can discuss that later. What is important is that you need to find out who you are!”
Twinkle widens her eyes and leans forward slightly with a frown, “And just how do I do that?”
The alicorn smiles, “By forgetting!”
<*****>
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
“Ugh!” Twinkle opens her eyes while laying on her left side, deep underneath the covers, while surrounded by pillows and held in a blue unicorn’s embrace. She whispers to herself, “You know, dreamless sleeping is probably a lot less irritating!”
“What was that?” Izzy asks from behind the filly, underneath the covers.
“Um, nothing!” Twinkle chimes as her little body jitters in Izzy’s embrace.
“Uh, oh-kay? Well, hey Twinkle! How about some breakfast?”
“Sounds good!” The pink filly quickly stammers out.
<*****>
Twinkle sits on her haunches at the table and brings the bowl of warm buttery oatmeal with brown sugar in it to her mouth to begin eating it voraciously.
Izzy frowns, “It’s so weird! You don’t remember who you are, but you know you like brown sugar?”
Twinkle lowers the half-empty bowl from her face to look at Izzy, “Golly gee, I’m just as confused as you are, I swear!”
Izzy smirks and giggles slightly, “Well, I believe you, for what it’s worth Twinkle…” she frowns and leans forward, “There’s something special about you, though? I still can’t put my hoof on it?”
Twinkle grins, “Naw, I’m sure fillies wake up in ruined structures with amnesia all the time! Nothing unusual here!”
Izzy smiles and widens her eyes, “Oh yeah! I ran into two, last week!”
“Of course!” The foal exclaims while hopping slightly on her seat.
Suddenly, there’s a knock-on Izzy’s front door. She looks at Twinkle and calmly says, “You wait here and finish your breakfast! I’ll be right back!”
The doorknob glows blue and turns inward to the left to reveal an orange alicorn with a purple mane and tail, and a shimmering gold horn. She smiles at Izzy, “Hey, I sent those books we found to Zephyr Heights to get them analyzed! We found out some things!”
Izzy widens her eyes, “Oh great! Come on in!” before backing to the right to give Sunny room.
Sunny trots in as she says, “Yeah, they dated the books at anywhere between one thousand and three thousand years old!”
Twinkle trots in from the dining room, “Oh, golly! Um, what did they say?”
Sunny frowns, “Well, they appeared to be information on how to take care of your friends and be there for them? I think that structure may have been a school for that?”
Twinkle frowns, “Golly gee, maybe? I don’t think I’m that old though? Any idea why I was there?”
Sunny frowns down at the filly, “Yeah, about that! You see, I looked in the Zephyr Hall of Records and details are sketchy at best, although it’s believed that there was once a town there?”
Twinkle sighs, “That still doesn’t tell me why I was there! I don’t really think I’m that old! What in Equestria am I doing inside a ruined old town that doesn’t exist anymore?”
Suddenly, Izzy pipes up from the side, “Time warp!”
Sunny looks at the unicorn, “What?”
Izzy looks at Sunny wide-eyed, “What if, she was part of that town at some point, and a time warp took her thousands of years into the future, and that’s why she can’t remember?”
Sunny frowns at Izzy, “Does time travel erase your memory?”
Izzy normalizes her eyes, “I don’t know? Maybe?”
Twinkle sighs, “You know, I’m not sure it even matters how I got here?”
Sunny looks at the foal interestedly with focused eyes and perked ears, “What do you mean?”
Twinkle looks at the alicorn, “Well, golly! I’m here now, right? Maybe that’s all I need to understand?”
Sunny narrows her eyes, “Yes, but we’d sure like to know!”
Twinkle sighs again, “You and me both, Sunny! But I’m just saying, there’s a chance we’ll never know!”
Sunny normalizes her eyes and curves her mouth, “Well, I still think you should meet the others!”
Twinkle frowns, “Um, others?”
<*****>
Twinkle Shine frowns on her hooves inside the Sunny’s living room with the five other ponies. She looks to the white pegasus with the red faux-hawk sporting neon blue highlights standing on the right side of the room, “You are?”
The pegasus smiles, “I’m Zipp Storm!” she looks and nods to the other pink pegasus to her right with the wavy light purple mane and tail and laurels around her pony ears, “And that’s my sister, Pipp Petals!”
The other pegasus widens her cerulean eyes and leans towards Twinkle, “Oh my gosh! You’re the amnesiac pegasus filly who woke up inside ruins!”
Twinkle widens her eyes at Pipp, “Thanks for the recap, but I was there! I kinda know this already!”
Suddenly, Pipp trots from where she was, next to Zipp, to embrace Twinkle in a tight, warm hug!
“EEP!” Twinkle exclaims as she’s held in the embrace of the other pegasus.
Pipp suddenly releases her left forehoof from the filly and raises it with her smartphone in the cleft as she says, “Selfie time! Smile Twinkle!”
Twinkle gives an extremely anxious and awkward wide toothy grin with wide-open nervous eyes while held in Pipp’s right forehoof.
The camera flashes on the phone as Zipp snorts and grins about her popstar sister.
Pipp releases Twinkle and puts her phone away, somewhere around her neck, but Twinkle can’t tell exactly where it went. She looks at the other pegasus curiously and asks, “So uh, what did you just do?”
Pipp leans forward excited, “I took a picture of me and you, Twinkle! I’m gonna post it on Ponygram so all of my fans can see the mystery filly who doesn’t know who she is!”
Sunny looks at Pipp from across the room, “Are you sure that’s such a great idea, Pipp? I mean, there’s still a lot of questions!”
Pipp sighs at the alicorn, “Well, okay! I’ll hold off on that!” she looks at Zipp with a frown on her face and curious look in her pale green eyes, “I think maybe we should check the old records room, though?”
Zipp looks at her sister from the right with wide blue eyes, “Old records room?”
Pipp nods her head, “At the royal palace in Zephyr Heights, there’s an old records room underneath. It might tell us more about what was there and what was going on all those years ago?”
“Uh, hey! Hang on there!” Twinkle says while raising her left wing to get the attention of the other pegasi, who both turn their heads to face her, “Don’t you think this whole, time travel thing is kinda silly?” she lowers her wings and gazes at them, “I mean, I’m just a filly! No way am I from that time period, whatever that place was!”
Zipp nods, “While that’s probably correct, it might tell us why you were there?”
Twinkle widens her eyes, “Point Zipp!”
Zipp smirks confidently on the right side of her mouth, “Of course!”
Twinkle then looks at the green-haired orange stallion on Zipp’s left, “Who are you?”
He smiles at the filly, “Hitch Trailblazer, at your service! I’m sheriff of Maretime Bay!”
“Oh golly! A police-pony! Uh, I didn’t do anything wrong, officer! I promise!” Twinkle says before smiling and raising her wings in surrender.
“I know you didn’t, squirt!” Hitch says before smiling and winking at Twinkle with his left eye.
Sunny looks at Zipp from the other side of the room as Twinkle brings her wings to her sides, “So, you’re gonna go to this secret record room at the palace, and find out what you can about that place?”
Zipp looks at Sunny, “Yup!” she looks at Twinkle, “If we can find out what that place was, that might tell us more about what you were doing there?” she leans towards the filly, “I mean, you could’ve just been some archeologist’s foal and you bumped your head and got lost?”
Twinkle smiles at the white pegasus, “Well, that’s more believable than, I’m from thousands of years ago and somehow traveled to the future, right?”
<*****>
“Ugh! What a day!” Twinkle exclaims while sitting on the couch, in Izzy’s living room.
Izzy sits on the red chair across from it to the right, “Yeah, but at least we know what those books are!"
Twinkle looks at the unicorn with wide eyes, “But that just raises more questions! I mean, golly! What makes you think that the ancient book bag we found has anything to do with me, anyway?”
Izzy eyes the pegasus carefully. “Well, it might tell us what was there and if we knew that, that might give us a better idea of what you were doing there?”
Twinkle furrows her brows and says irritatedly. “Might? You keep saying that word! I uh,“ she widens her eyes, “I’m not sure anymore?” before frowning…
Izzy frowns at the filly. “What do you mean?”
Twinkle looks up at the blue unicorn from her spot on the couch. “I mean, I don’t know how we’re going to find out any of these things?”
“Well, Zipp is gonna check the older records and see what was there.”
Twinkle sighs, “Well, right! In the meantime, there’s not much else I can do?”
Izzy looks up at the left side. “Well, right!”
Twinkle leans towards the unicorn with wide hopeful brown eyes. “Hey Izzy?”
The unicorn leans to the filly. “Yes, Twinkle?”
Twinkle smiles mischievously. “I’ve been a good filly all day! Um, can we smoke now, please?”
Izzy smiles and shakes her head before looking at her shelf on the left of the chair and causing her wooden stashbox to glow blue and float to the table, in front of her.
She dismounts the chair and trots to the table to where her horn and the stash box lid both glow and the lid moves to the left side, and soon, a glowing black pack of rolling papers and a little plastic baggy of herbs soon floats out the box and onto the table in front of Izzy. She investigates the box again, and soon, a booklet of joint tips comes floating to the others in a blue glow.
The pack of papers floats before Izzy and it opens before her, and one paper soon floats out and lays flat before her. She looks at the booklet of tips where it opens and one rips out, and she uses her magic to fold a new joint crutch before putting it on the right side of the paper, in the center. She then looks at the baggy and causes several small nugs to float and arrange themselves neatly into a line on the paper. She then furrows her brow as the weed begins to visibly break apart into a finer mixture before it all glows blue and straightens out as it arranges itself neatly once more. She causes a small amount of weed to glow and move to the crutch to form a better seal before causing the paper to float in front of her where it begins to roll up from the bottom and she licks the top to seal in her magic before looking at the freshly rolled king joint she just made and smiling.
She licks the joint as it floats down before her face and then, the end goes in her mouth and her red disposable lighter floats up from her stash box to her lower right-hand side, before she giggles when she suddenly realizes she has the joint in her mouth backwards! “Wait!” Izzy floats the joint out of her mouth and turns it around in mid-air before it floats back into her mouth, and then saying out the right side, “Don’t wanna do that again!” The lighter soon sparks and ignites and Izzy brings her face closer to it with the joint in her mouth, but she must gaze at the joint carefully to make sure it’s in the flame.
Twinkle widens her eyes at the unicorn and frowns. “Uh, golly! Are you having problems?”
Izzy giggles as she inhales from the burning joint and the cherry glows. “Nope! I got it under control, Twinkle!” before exhaling smoke just to the filly’s left and forcing the lighter to go out and float silently back to the coffee table.
Twinkle frowns. “It still bothers me… Friendship is power! And, you need to remember what you’re supposed to do! I mean, I don’t know what this foal is talking about!”
Izzy inhales again before the joint floats before her and turns around to float towards the pegasus filly, who suddenly thinks she needs to be precise in catching it and so, she lifts her chin and opens her mouth to seal it around the stogie and inhales herself, causing the cherry to glow.
Izzy exhales to her right and looks at the pegasus, now holding a hit in her lungs with her cheeks puffed out. “Maybe it doesn’t mean anything?”
Twinkle exhales smoke to the left of Izzy and stares back at her while saying out the right corner of her mouth, “What do you mean?” and then pursing her lips again to inhale again and take another drag.
Izzy frowns at the pegasus intently. “I mean, those messages could be from anywhere in your mind! We don’t know how legit that might be?”
Twinkle exhales on the right of Izzy, “True! Uh, “she looks at Izzy as the joint flies gently out of her mouth in a blue glow, “Miss Izzy?”
“Yeah?” Izzy asks before the stogie flies into her mouth on the right side and she purses her lips around it to inhale.
Twinkle looks down, “Um, can I sleep with you again tonight please? Uh, it makes me feel safe and er uh, content when you hold me…” before looking up with her eyes, while her mouth is scrunched and her cheeks pout faintly.
Izzy exhales smoke to the right of Twinkle before looking back at her and saying out the left side of her mouth, “Is this gonna be a regular thing?”
Twinkle raises her chin and stares at the unicorn with a scrunched mouth and a blank expression in her auburn eyes, “I don’t know? Maybe?”
Izzy purses her lips on the joint to draw and make the cherry glow once more, before the half-joint floats out of her mouth while encased in a blue glow and she exhales smoke between the two ponies and smiles as she says, “Sure Twinkle! I’d love to hold you again while we sleep!”
Twinkle smiles widely as her face beams in relief. “Oh, golly Miss Izzy! That would be just swell!”
(To be continued…)